Map

Start:

Croft visitor reception SO45119 65659

1

Turn right outside visitor reception and pass through the gate following the track around to your right. Follow the purple markers to the top of the hill and see if you can spot part of the original carriage path to your left.

2

Keep following the purple markers up the hill towards the wood pasture and then follow the path sharply to your right, keeping the wood pasture on your left.

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Wood pasture

Home to many ancient oak trees and a myriad of bluebells in May. Cattle occasionally graze here. Take a peek inside our wood pasture barn, which contains information on the parkland’s wildlife and our current and future projects.

See a carpet of bluebells in the wood pasture this springNational Trust Images

3

Take a sharp left and keep heading up the hill, keeping the wood pasture on your left.

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Candelabra oak

Keep an eye out for the candelabra oak on your left. This is an 800-year-old pollarded oak tree.

4

Once you reach the top of the wood pasture, follow the purple way-markers round to your right and back down the hill slightly.

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Sir James Croft's grave

On a prominence overlooking the Fishpool Valley. Just up from the grave, rest your legs in our Moss house; a temporary structure providing a place to rest and enjoy the natural surroundings.

Sir James Croft's grave in the parkland at CroftNational Trust Images

5

Follow the way-markers down the wooded slope, stopping to admire the fish pools on your right. Don't miss the viewing platform, created to overlook particularly picturesque scenes.

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Saw pits

Where heavy timber was once cut by hand.

6

Keep following the markers down the wooded slope until you come to a sharp bend in the path. Follow this round to your right.

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Charcoal burning platform

Evidence of a past woodland industry.

7

Follow the path to your left and then take another sharp left.

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'Gothic' Pumphouse

Keep an eye out for the 'Gothic' Pumphouse on your right. In the nineteenth century, this supplied water to the castle.

See if you can find the old pump house in Fishpool Valley National Trust

8

Continue to follow the purple way-markers until you eventually reach the main driveway. Turn right into the visitor car park and towards visitor reception.

How to get here

The entrance is off the B4362, turning north at Cock Gate between Bircher and Mortimer's Cross. The property is signposted from the A49 between Ludlow and Leominster, and from A4110 at Mortimer's Cross. Parking: 100 yards. Sat-Nav: use HR6 0BL